The Mess Maker

There is a new song being sung around our home these days. Tune: Matchmaker from "Fiddler on the Roof." Our version: Mess Maker, Mess Maker; making a mess. throwing his food, digging through trash. Mess maker, mess maker; it's not a game, quit making our home a mess.

I could continue singing, but I'll get to the point. Braxton is a little stinker when it comes to making messes. He is so curious and sneaky, which makes for a dangerous combination. This little turkey is so good at sneaking away and finding something that he shouldn't be playing with and making a huge mess.

Exhibit A:
Shredding toilet paper. The TP in our house is not in the dispenser anymore. Stinky figured out how to spin it off the roll. I got so sick of rolling it back up every. single. day. so I eventually took it off the roll and put it on the back of the toilet. I thought I had outsmarted him. Point: Mom.

A few days later I was getting ready and Braxton kept walking back and forth between our bedroom and the bathroom. It got very quite (always a bad sign) and turned around to see Braxton sitting on the bathroom floor with the TP in his hands. Only this time, he had discovered that while spinning the roll was fun, tearing the roll into teeny, tiny shreds is way more fun! Point: Mess Maker.

Exhibit B:
Braxton also has figured out how to open the cabinet doors in our bathroom. It took him a while since they don't have handles. However, once he got the doors open, he realized that Mom hides all the "cool toys" under the bathroom sink. "Cool toys" being nursing pads, Lansinoh wipes, Tucks, and extra shampoo. Point: Mess Maker.

Exhibit C:

In the mornings, if I'm still tired, I will lay on the couch while Brax plays for a bit. When he's hungry, he will come whine at me and I would go get him some cheerios to eat. One morning, Silly Mama left the box on the dining room chair (only thing you can reach while laying on the couch). I must have dozed off because Mess Maker got a hold of the box, and this is what I woke up to:
Point: Mess Maker.

Exhibit D:

Just this week, the Mess Maker has taken things to a whole new level. Yes, this week Mess Maker figured out how to open his box of wipes. No biggie, just the little flap on top. He'd pull out a wipe or two and get distracted by something else. UNTIL... DUH DUH DUH... He figured out how to open the entire top, take out every single wipe, and tear them all to shreds! I've had to start putting his wipes up on his dresser so he can't get to them . Here is the first time I caught the little stinker in the act:
Point: Mess Maker.

Other points earned by the notorious Mess Maker: taking all the clothes of of his dresser, throwing every tupperware and washcloth out of the drawer in the kitchen, taking all of Mommy's socks out of the dresser, taking trash out of the can, pulling out all of the shoes by the front door, removing the outlet protectors from the wall and hiding them in the shoes for the owner to step on...

Current Score

Mom: 1
Mess Maker: 10

Easter Sunday 2012

I love Easter Sunday! We started off the day with a wonderful church program. It was beautiful. The words and songs were a wonderful testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. I always think about my family members that have passed away on Easter Sunday-- Grandpa Hy and Grandpa Joe. My cousins Devin, Austin, and Jessica. I think about what they are doing and how they must feel knowing that the Savior has provided a way for us to all be together again.

I also love to commercial side of Easter. Let's face it-- Easter candy is the best holiday candy. Easter decorations and outfits are always so cute, and who doesn't like dying eggs? Get ready for a photo overload...

Braxton after church in his Easter Sweater

Discovering his Easter basket

Blowing bubbles with Daddy

Popping all the bubbles

Haha! This picture makes me laugh. This is the face he made after he ate a piece of sidewalk chalk.

The weather was perfect so we went for a walk.

We had Easter dinner with the fam- Kelsey, Chad, Holly&Kyle, Braxton, my Kyle, and I all got together and pigged out. Ham, deviled eggs, twice-baked potatoes, salad, rolls, creamed corn, and apple pie.

And these are the people that ate too much!

The Sucky Sleeper

Pun intended. My baby likes to nurse to sleep.

Many of you know that my dear sweet boy that is such a sweetheart during the day is a stinker at night. Yes, it's both sad and true. My 13 month old does not sleep through the night... not even close.

It was not always this way. Braxton was a great sleeper as a newborn. He would wake two, sometimes 3 times at night to eat and go right back to sleep. By two months, he was sleeping through the night (11pm-6am). At three months he was sleeping 13 hours at night (7pm-8am). Life was good. This was back when I was going to school full-time and working part-time, so thankfully we were getting rest at night because our days were BUSY. However, after I graduated, Braxton started getting teeth in September and the sleeping through the night ended.

I have not slept through the night since the beginning of September. That's eight months! During this time, I have become a fanatic about baby sleep. I would like to say that I am somewhat of an expert-- at least I have plenty of tactics ready for when Baby #2 rolls around someday. I have read and learned a LOT about baby sleep. I have read just about every link that comes up under a google search for "sleep training," "how to help xx month old sleep through the night," "night weaning," "baby sleep cycles," "sleep associations," etc. I have also researched Ferber, Pantley, Hogg, Dr. Sears and others about their views on baby sleep habits and healthy ways to encourage night sleeping.

By now, I am guessing 95% of my dear readers have no idea what I am talking about... ;) Anyway, I have done a lot of research. Read books, blogs, scholarly articles and other forms of research, subscribed to sleep experts... I have tried several different methods trying to get this boy to sleep and still... NO DICE.

I first tried Hogg's EASY method. However, it quickly became clear that my stubborn little man was not falling for pick up, put down. I finally called it quits on night when I spent 2 hours picking up B, comforting him, then putting him back down when stopped crying. It. was. not. working.

At Braxton's 9 month well check, his CPNP Sue Ann suggested cry it out (CIO). I had debated about trying this before, but was always hesitant because it's not exactly the gentlest of sleep methods. Somehow talking to her reassured me that it would be okay, albeit difficult, and that my baby was waking up out of habit, not because he was sick/teething/colicky, etc. So we tried CIO. And it worked... kind of. You see, Braxton did eventually cry himself back to sleep. However, after two months of this he was still waking up at night and would cry himself back to sleep. I guess I should count this as an improvement, but I felt like such a terrible mom laying in bed, listening to my baby cry. every. single. night.

Then we had Christmas Break. Staying with the in-laws. Couldn't let him cry all night if he woke up since it would wake everyone in the house (except Topher-- his pants could be on fire and he would probably sleep through it). So I would go feed him and rock him to sleep. BIG MISTAKE. Once we got home that was the only way he found acceptable to fall asleep.

January was awful. Cold. Stomach flu. Teeth. Another cold. Ear infection. AHHH! I'm pretty sure we didn't sleep at all that month. (Confession: I fell asleep in the Mother's Lounge at church one Sunday in January. For over an hour. Church had been out 10 minutes by the time I woke up).

March: More research. More books. Started testing out "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" by Pantley. Found more valuable knowledge about baby sleep. The Pantley Pull-Off was somewhat successful. No more nursing to sleep and fewer night wakings (down to 3-4 instead of 6+) but he was STILL waking up and STILL needed my help to fall back to sleep. Even though I was only spending 5-10 minutes with him before he was back to sleep, I take much longer to fall back to sleep...

Now: Ordered a new book last week on Amazon. One penny. Seriously?! I will be impressed if I can purchase a full nights sleep for that price! It has shipped and will be here soon. Tonight: Round 2 of Cry It Out. Checked on Braxton four times. He is finally back to sleep. I am praying that he starts sleeping through the night before we move home and in with my family. They might not let us stay very long before kicking us out if he wakes everyone up.

Anyway, that's a record of the most notable sleep training methods I have tried (there were others, but these are the three that stand out the most). Wish us luck with our new endeavor!